The Blood Of A Rose
by SnowFlake x x x
Summary: "Winning will make you famous, losing means certain death..." I don't know how it all came to this, things can be funny like that, in the blink of an eye everything in the universe can shift, just like that. Look at us now, fighting for our lives just for some stupid competition- Amy Rose
1. Chapter 1

**If you have read The Many Shades Of Cream, then you would know somewhere along in those many authors notes, I said that I planned on writing a Sonic/Hunger Games crossover! Well, I never lie, so yeah! Hope you enjoy! P.S The storyline has been slightly altered so don't get mad! Nothing major, just minor stuff. Hehe!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic or The Hunger Games!**

The Blood Of A Rose

Chapter 1: The Tributes

"Huh? Cream?" I say groggily as I lift my head from my lumpy pillow. When I didn't feel her soft fur against my own rough bristles, I became worried, but then I remembered that she must have climbed in with mum because today was the day of reaping.

I cross my legs and sit up. From what I can see in the dim light, there is the familiar face of my younger sister, just barely visible above the dirty sheets, cuddled up against mum. Mum looks almost peaceful compared to her somewhat looks of anxiety and fright.

Cream looks as beautiful as ever, her Cream coloured fur glows brightly under the dim candlelight, she looks so serene, it almost makes my heart melt. Held in the security of her arms, was a small blue Chao. Cheese she calls him, chaos are very rare to find in district 12 in Mobius, and they are also another mouth to feed.

It's not that I myself wasn't found of the chao when Cream bought him home, it's just that we I was barely able to get food for the table every night for our broken family, let alone have to feed a pet too!

I don't think Cheese like's me very much, I think he still remembers when I tried to drown him, but you couldn't blame me really, in all honesty I was doing him a favour. I thought that he wasn't going to last the night and I didn't want Cream to get too attached to the scrawny Chao if he somehow managed to pull through the night.

I hop off my bed and slip myself into my hunting gear. Pulling my, big, brown, boots on, I tie my long pink quills back into a long braid. On the kitchen table, I spot a small slice of goat cheese wrapped in basil leaves, Cream gives me some every reapers day, I think she thinks of it as a sign of good luck, I just think of it as a snack to keep me going but that does not cancel out the fact that I am eternally grateful, not only for the goat cheese but for her.

I slide the cheese into my pocket as I step outside.

I take a deep breathe of fresh air as I walk down the rocky path leading away from our small house. I only have to pass a few gates to reach a scruffy field called the Meadow. A large fence with barbered wire separates the Meadow from the forest, in fact, the fence is where district 12 ends.

The barbered wire is _meant _to have electrified volts running through it all day, but we're lucky to even get electricity for 3 hours at night so it's safe to touch. Just in case, I always listen out for the hum of the electricity, as per usual, it's as silent as the night.

Finding one of the weak spots in the fence that is concealed by a clump of bushes, I easily slide under and enter the woods. When I get to the trees, I retrieve my bow and a sheath of arrows from inside a hollow log.

I know that trespassing in the woods is illegal but a gals gotta eat! Besides, I bet lots of other people would risk it _if _they had the weapons for it. My bow was crafted for me by my father, he could have made a lot of money off of them but if the officials ever found, he would have been persecuted for it.

I begin to quicken my pace as I climb the hill because I spotted the one I have been looking for, Knuckles. The sight of him waiting for me brings up a rare smile. Knuckles says he only I ever use to see me smile back in the day, the good days, he would always add.

"Hey Ames" Says Knuckles, I hardly ever hear that nickname get used on me, except from Knuckles, most people address me as Amy if they so choose to speak to me.

"Look what I got" Knuckles says, holding up a loaf of bread that had an oddly shape mark indented into it, a mark that resembled Knuckles hard fists, earning a rare laugh from me. It's actually proper bread, not the flat, dense kind we earn from our grain rations.

I take it from him and intake the sweet, luxurious at that, smell.

"Still warm" I muse "How much did it cost you?" I ask, turning to face him.

"Just a couple of fish, he must have been feeling sorry for me, I can even faintly remember him wishing me good luck" Knuckles says with a casual shrug.

"Well you know what day it is Knuckles" I remind him before reaching into my pocket and bringing out the cheesy smelling product "Cream left us some Cheese"

"Well thank you very much Cream, we shall be having a great feast" Knuckles said with a posh accent pulling a sour face before adding "I almost forget! Happy Hunger Games!"

"And may the odds be ever in your favour" I finish, taking a generous bite out of the piece of bread.

It's funny, I only just realised, Knuckles could be like my brother. His quills, like mine, don't stick out, instead they lay flat on his red head. He is also a similar colour to me, his red fur greatly corresponds with my own pink, not to mention more girly, quills.

That's why my I always tend to look out of place compared to my family. I know full well that I was adopted by the friendly rabbit parents at a tender young age before Cream was even born. We are not of the same species so I didn't know why I never figured out as a child that they were not my real parents, it's simple really, and quite obvious too, I'm a hedgehog, they are rabbits, I'm quite surprised I didn't put two and two together Although, Knuckles kept saying I was quite dopey as a child but I never took any notice of him, I still don't actually.

Knuckles takes the loaf away from me and begins to slice up the bread. Spreading a generous coat of goat cheese on top and handing a couple of slices to me while I grab some berries from the bush. Even though no one can see us, we have a clear view of the valley in front of us. The weather today is absolutely beautiful, with the hot sun and a gentle, yet cool, breeze. The food tastes glorious in my mouth, and I suppress the urge to moan as the flavour of the berries explode in my mouth and as the hot cheese melts on my tongue.

"We could do it, ya know" Knuckles states quietly.

"Do what?" I say, mouth full of delicious food.

"Leave the district, you and I, we could make it" Knuckles says flatly.

I consider the idea for a moment then I shake my head.

"You know we can't, I have Cream to look after" I respond.

Knuckles grunts in reply.

"I doubt we will ever be able to find the Master Emerald Knuckles" I state as calmly as I can.

"How do you know?" he spits harshly.

Knuckles wasn't intentionally being mean, but he is a bit of a hot head when it comes to matters like this. He has always been like this, it's just in his nature, as the guardian of the (missing) Master Emerald, he was just too stubborn I guess.

"You know they took it _ages_ ago, they are either using it to harness it's power or it has been destroyed" I state.

By them, I mean the people from the Capitol, when we got involved in the rebellion and we all lost, they took the master emerald away because they thought it would be too much power for our district and that we would probably use it to rebel again. Me and the others were not originally involved in all this rebelling stuff but back when we were so naïve and hopeful we decided to help them out, and it was the worst decision we ever made.

"I'm not in the mood to talk about it, let's go hunt some fish" Knuckles grumbles, standing up and making his way to the small lake.

I roll my eyes at him, but I oblige, anything to get him out of his strop.

…

Once we are done fishing, we drop by the market to sell our many fish. When we finished, we decide to drop by the mayors house so we can sell him a few of our strawberries. He is quite fond of the taste of strawberries and he usually pays a fair amount for them. The mayors daughter, Sally, opens the door. Before I even met her but knew about her, I expected her to be a snobby kind of person but after talking to her on a couple of occasions, I declared that she was an alright squirrel, although we rarely talk, which suits us both just peachy.

Her usual waistcoat and boots have been replaced by an, what looks to be quite expensive, white dress, her brown hair is just left in it's usual messy style though.

"Nice dress" Knuckles comments.

Sally's eyes trace other his face, trying to look for a hint of a smile to see if he was being sarcastic or not. After deep thought, her lips pursed and she gave him a small smile.

"What if I end up chosen? I want to look good don't I?"

Knuckles looks at her in confusion, was she being serious? Or was she just messing about? I think the second one probably rings true, but you never know.

"I highly doubt you'll be going" he replies coolly. His eyes trace over a small gold pin that is pinned at the front of her magnificent white dress. Huh. It's actually real gold! Beautifully crafted and probably worth a fortune, if it was mine, I would sell it in a flash.

"You probably have, what about 2 entries? I had about 4 entries when I first got stuck in this dump!" He begins to become angry.

"That's not her fault" I say, trying to cut the tension building up between the two.

Sally seems to be slightly bored now. She puts the money for the berries in my hand and says "Good luck Amy"

"You too Sally" I say before the door is closed on us.

I was a bit annoyed at Knuckles for taking it out on Sally like that. But he was right, the reaping system is unfair, the poor always gets the worst of it. You become eligible for reaping when you are twelve and since I got here when I was twelve, I was entered straight away, along with Knuckles, who was give or take 14 at the time, maybe 15, I don't know. The year you do turn twelve, your name is entered once, then twice at thirteen and so on, until you reach 18, the final year of eligibility.

But then there's a catch, say if, I don't know, you were poor or starving or maybe both. You can opt to add your name more times in exchange for tesserae. Each tesserae is worth a meagre year's supply for grain and oil for one person, you can do it for each family member as well. So when I was first entered, at the age of twelve, I had my name entered four times.

Every year I have to do this just so that I can keep my family alive, so now that I am sixteen, my name will be entered about twenty times.

So now you can see why someone like Sally, can set Knuckles off. She has never been at risk of having to enter her name more than once each year, because of her wealth and such. Her chances of being drawn are very small compared to all of the other ones trying to survive poverty, like me, of getting picked out of the thousands of names.

I look over to the in rage Knuckles as we walk, his rants seem pointless to me, although I never say so, because I know that, even though I do agree with everything he is saying, the problem of the matter is no one will listen to reason, especially not the obnoxious, not to mention completely and utterly stupid, Capitol.

"See you in the square" I say as we arrive back.

"Wear something pretty" Knuckles mumbles, with little emotion in his deep voice.

As I arrive home, my mum and Cream are already ready. My mum wears a fine dress from her apothecary days and Cream is in my first reaping day outfit, a peach coloured skirt with a ruffled blouse. It's a bit big for her due to her dainty size but mum made it stay in with pins, although, it did have the tendency to un-tuck itself at the back.

I sit down in the tub filled with warm water and I begin to scrub off the dirt and sweat from the woods and I even wash my quills. To my genuine surprise, mum has laid out one of her own beautiful dresses for me. A soft silky dress with matching shoe's, if this was a couple of years back I would have squealed over it's elegancy and beauty but my tom boy side had gotten the better of me ever since arriving at the district due to the fact that I had to toughen up and stop whining like a baby so that I could take over taking care of my family when my father died.

"Are you sure?" I ask, I don't want to sound rude and reject her offers of kindness. And this was something special, her clothes from her past life are very precious to her.

"Of Course dear, lets put your hair up too" she replies in her light voice, braiding my hair so that it cascades down my back, unlike how I do it, which is usually rushed and messy. When I look in the mirror, I don't even see myself, I see past Amy, a young naïve twelve year old who liked to dress up in pretty dresses. I glare at my reflection.

"You look so beautiful" Cream says, hardly above a whisper, interrupting me from my thoughts.

I turn back around and hug Cream, these next few hours are going to fright the heck out of her, it's her first reaping and all…But I know without a doubt she's pretty much as safe as safe can really be.

As I let go of her, I notice the blouse has un-tucked from her skirt in the back again and I force a smile "Tuck on your tail little duck" I say, placing the blouse back in place and smoothing it over.

Cream lets out a cute childish giggle and adds a "Quack"

"Come on lets eat" I say to her, planting a small soft kiss on her furry head.

…

When the clock strikes one, we head for the square. You absolutely have to go unless you're dead or something like that. This evening, like the many other evenings prior to this "special" event, officials will check to see of you have left to go to the reaping, if not, it would be straight away persecution.

The square is usually a pleasant place to walk through, but not today though, even though there is bright banners hung on the surrounding buildings, I can't help but always notice an air of grimness, the camera crew perched on roof tops, only add to the effect.

People file in and begin to sign in. Twelve to eighteen-year-olds are all herded into a small area, separated by ropes and marked off by their ages. The older ones at the front, and the younger ones at the back like Cream.

I vaguely remember one time where Knuckles and I agreed if we had to choose between dying of hunger or getting attacked by chaos control, the chaos control would have been much quicker.

Someone bumps into my shoulder as the space gets tighter, the square maybe fairly large but not big enough to hold a population of more than 8 thousand, if anyone is late, they are told to go to the streets where they can watch it live because it is televised.

I share quick nods with the other sixteen year olds standing around me before we all turn to face the stage. It contains three chairs, a podium and two glass balls, filled with names of boys in one and girls in the other.

I stare at the glass ball that contains the girls names, Amy Rose is written carefully on twenty of them.

The Mayor, Maximillian Acorn, sits on one of the three seats, and Tikal Echidna sits on another seat. With her cheery grin, bright orange fur and spring green suit, she terrifies the life out of Cream and I'm normally the one who has to stay up with her in case of nightmares about the echidna.

The Mayor steps up to the podium and begins to red. It's the same old boring speech every year. It's all about the history of Mobius and when we became district 12, it's a load of all rubbish to be honest.

There is just one simple rule in the Hunger Games "Kill or be killed", each district must provide one boy and one girl as tributes to take part in the hunger games. The twenty four tributes are then in a vast outdoor arena that could vary, anything for a scorching hot desert to a frozen waste land, other the next couple of weeks, the tributes fight to the death and the last one standing wins.

The Capitol use it as a reminder that they are the superior people and the worst of it is they expect us to treat it like some sort of celebration or festival, which it is not, quite the opposite actually. The prize is the district, that the winner comes from, is awarded each year every year a years supply of things like food, while the rest of us try to win the battle of starvation.

We have only ever had two winners from our district in the past four years, only one is still alive. Nack The Weasel. The same Nack that hunted the chaos emeralds and was never exactly a "friend" of ours, more like an enemy. He staggers on stage, obviously drunk, and drops down into his seat.

The Mayor pulls a face, he knows full well like the rest of us that this is being televised so right now, Mobius is the laughing stock of the all the districts, he quickly tries to pull the attention away from the drunk weasel and he quickly introduces Tikal, who is more that happy to get away from Nack so that she can pick out the tributes.

"Happy Hunger Games!" she announces happily "And may the odds be ever in your favour!" She then begins to go on and on what an honour it is to be here. I yawn quietly out of boredom and wanting this anxiety to be over.

Through the crowd, I spot Knuckles who seems just as bored and anxious as I do. He gives me a slight smile, as far as reaping goes, because he is eighteen, this is his last one and if this was me, I would be overly happy by that fact after the tribute were announced and it WASN'T me.

I begin to worry about Knuckles, the amount of times he has entered his name for tesserae never ceases to worry me. The odds were certainly not in his favour and I the horrible butterflies in my stomach were not at all reassuring.

_There are still thousands of slips though _I reassure myself and I wish I could tell Knuckles the same, who by now had already turned back round to listen to the announcing of the tributes.

"Ladies first I think!" Tikal said in her overly bubbly attitude which made me feel sick. She then crosses over to the glass ball on the left to pick out the girls names. She reaches in, digs her hand deep into the ball and pulls out a small slip of paper. The crowd all draw in a intake of breath as Tikal unfolds the piece of paper.

_Don't be me, don't be me, don't be me! _I pray in my head as Tikal reads the name out clearly in a perky voice.

And it's not me.

It's Cream The Rabbit.

**Sorry if it sounded too familiar to the book! Anyway, this will not be continued until I have finished my other fic the Many Shades Of Cream and I just wanted to give you all a lil sneak peak! Should I continue? Please tell me what you think through you reviews!**

**Love ya!**

**Mwah!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, so this is chapter 2 of the Blood of a Rose, since I finished The Many Shades Of Cream, I decided to continue this, because I have left you too wait FAR too long.**

**Disclaimer: I do no own The Hunger Games or Sonic!**

The Blood Of A Rose

Chapter 2: May the odds be ever in your favour.

I stood, stock still. Too stunned for words. It reminds me of a time when I was sitting on the branch of a tree, waiting for the games too pass, when I fell asleep, and fell. The impact had taken my breathe away, litterally, and I lay there, struggling to inhale.

And there she is, all the blood gone from her face, fists clenched tightly at her side, as she takes slow, small steps towards the looming stage. The back of her blouse un-tucked.

"Cream!"I yell, and the crowd moves out of the way, allowing me to pass, but I don't stop to thank them, instead, I grab Cream's left arm, and pull her behind me, all the while yelling, "I volunteer!"

"Fantastic!" Tikal exclaims, clapping her hands together happily, but then, an expression that I cannot recognise, crosses her features. "But I believe there's a small matter of introducing the reaping winner and then asking for volunteers, and if one does come forth then we, um…" she trails off, unsure herself.

"Just let the girl come forward." The mayor orders, I don't think he knows me, but there is some recognition in his voice, maybe he knows I'm somewhat aquainted with his daughter? But I can't further investigate the matter, as Cream is screaming behind me, begging me not to go. She has quite a strong hold, I'll give her that.

"No Amy! Please!" She cries.

"Cream, let go." I say, harshly.

When I no longer feel Creams arms circled around my waist, I turn and see that Knuckles has lifted Cream off the ground, and she's thrashing about in his arms, but it's no use, no one can break Knuckles death grip, the echidna is well known for his strength.

"Off you go, Ames." He says, in a voice that I know he is trying to keep steady, and he walks off with Cream in his arms, carrying her back to mother. Knuckles was never really that good at dealing with 'feelings', but I can see that he is attempting to calm the sobbing child in his arms. I turn back around, unable to look at the face of my sister anymore, and climb the steps. Only to be greeted by the over-enthusiastic orange echidna, her cheesey smile and attitude towards the hunger games sickens me, to say the least.

"Thats the spirit of the games! What's your name dear?" she asks me, flashing another one of her stupid smiles. Even in my distressed state, I still try my best not to roll my eyes, and instead I swallow the lump that was brewing in my throat.

"I bet my quills that was your sister. Don't want her to steal all the glory, do we? Come on, everybody! Let's give a big round of applause to our newest tribute!" The tears almost start to pour down my muzzle. As strange as it may sound, for the first time in my life, Nack the Weasal saves me...from embarrassement. He staggers across the stage, throwing an arm around me.

"Feisty! I like this one!" He slurrs, his breathe smells heavily of alcohol, and it takes all my might not too slap him there and then, but I don't want to give my self a bad rep, because there goes my sponsers, and if I plan on surviving, I'm going to need those sponsers.

He releases me, and staggers forward, only this time to plummet off the stage and knocks himself unconscious.

...

The weasal is quickly removed from the scene, and Tikal attempts to get this train wreck back on track. "And now, the boys!" She zips across the stage, over to he other glass ball, and I pray for Knuckles safety.

"Sonic the hedgehog!"

My eyes widen in shock. _Oh no. It couldn't be? Could it? _But I see the familiar dark blue quills bop up and down through the crowd. Slowly, which is odd for him. but, then again, who in there right mind would be in a rush to get killed?

You see, the thing is, in these past four years, I haven't spoken to Sonic since they day we were all in these stupid districts. We were seperated from everyone we knew, and only a few of us were kept together, by luck of course. I guess I partly blamed Sonic for everything that happened all those years ago, because it was his idea to get involved with the rebellion. I am perfectly aware of the fact he was just trying to help, I guess I couldn't _help _but think it was all his fault.

I watch him as he makes his way to the stage, since the last time I saw him, or rather, the last time I paid attention to him, he had grown a good couple of inches or so, his fur was still dark blue in colour, but it was quite shaggy. Then again, so was mine, not to mention everyone else's, so I was in no position to judge.

His face remains emotionless, but I recognise the fear in his eyes, that was rarely seen, by anyone. I don't have a thing for him anymore, we're not even friends. The only time we interacted during our time in the district was a couple of years back. But he's probably forgotten, he never really had the best memory, epscially when it came to me. My father had died three months earlier, in a mine accident. The district gave us a small amount of money because of this. To cover about a month of grieving, then my mother was expected to get a job. Only she didn't.

No matter how much Cream pleaded, or how much I yelled, she just sat there, eyes fixed on some point in the distance. When I was twelve, and Cream was only eight, so I took over as head of the family. I tried my best to buy food and cook it, but soon enough we were out of money again.

And this is how I encountered Sonic.

It was a cold afternoon, and rain was falling by the gallons, and I had spent my day raiding bins in the district. But all the bins I came across were empty. I gave up when the bakers wife shouted at me, and I feared she would call the peace keepers on me. So, I went for a walk, in search for food, until I became tired, so I took shelter under an old apple tree.

A familiar flash of blue rushed past me, and I froze, so did _it _too. And in it's place stood the all too familiar blue hedgehog, in his arms, he carried many loafs of bread. I began to wonder how he paid for them. Our gazes remained locked for what seemed like forever, his emerald green pierced my skin, and stared right into my soul, oddly enough though, I couldn't look away.

Before I knew it, two loafs of bread was sent my way and he was gone in the blink of an eye, I took them without hesitation, and with the strength I had left, I ran home and we ate an entire loaf, slice, by slice. Enjoying every second of it.

At school, I found him staring at me from across the schoolyard, but as soon as I looked at him, he turned away and continued his conversation with his 'friends'. I should have thanked him, but I couldn't bring my self round to do so. Call me ungrateful, I know. It's weird to think that I will be fighting him in the hunger games, and even if I wanted to thank him, I don't think it will be sincere of me to do it while I'm trying to kill him.

The mayor finishes Treaty of Reason, and tells me and Sonic to shake hands. Sonic's large gloved hands are warm against my petite one's. He gives my hand a reassuring squeeze, and looks me right in the eye. But I'm the one to turn away this time, unable to look at him. Things are still going to be awkward between us, no matter what. We turn back to face the crowd as the anthem of Floating Island plays.


	3. Chapter 3

**Decided to wrie chapter 3! So...here it is!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games or Sonic!**

The Blood Of A Rose

Chapter 3: Final Goodbyes?

The second the anthem ends, we're taken away by the peace keepers, and they march us through the front door of the Justice Building, I wonder what would happen if tributes tried to escape, although I've never seen it, maybe it's happened.

They take me too a room, and I am left alone. It's the richest place I've ever been in, with thick, deep carpets and a velvet couch and chairs. I know velvet because my mother has a dress with a collar made of the stuff. When I sit on the couch, I can't help running my fingers over the fabric repeatedly, it's somewhat soothing to my frantic mind. The next hour is the time allowed for tributes to say goodbye to family and friends. I decide I'm not going to cry, there will be more cameras at the train station.

Cream and my mother are the first to arrive. Cream climbs onto my lap and I craddle her, just as I had done when she was a small toddler. Mother sits next to me and wraps one arm around the both of us. It is silent for a few minutes, no one dares to speak as we treasure our fleeting time together. Probably our last time together. I shudder at the thought.

I begin to rant on all things they must do, I tell them Cream is not to take any tesserae, they can get by on selling Cream's goat cheese and milk, and mothers small buisness she runs for the people in he Seam. Knuckles will get her the herbs she doesn't grow herself.

When I am done with instructions about trading, staying in school, and other stuff, I turn to my mother and grip her arm. "Are you listening to me?" She nods, alarmed by my intensity."You can't leave again,".

"I know. I won't. I couldn't help what—"

Well, you have to help it this time. I won't be there to keep you both alive .Whatever you see on the screen. You have to promise me you'll fight through it!"

She pulls her arm from my strong grasp, "I was ill. I could have treated myself if I'd had the medicine I have now."

I've seen her bring back people suffering from depression. Perhaps it is a sickness, but it's one we can't afford.

"Then take it. And take care of her!" I say, stroking the back of Creams head, as I hold her tightly.

I'll be all right, Amy," says Cream, holding my face gently in her small hands. " You're so fast and brave. Maybe you can win."

The hope in her voice, makes my heart melt, she has so much faith in me. But I think even she knows what's going to happen. I'll be one of the first to die. Kids from richer districts have been trained all their lives for this. The odds were certainly not in my favour.

"Maybe," I say, with a slight smile, before hugging her tightly again.

And then a peace keeper is at the door, meaning our time together is up, and we all share a hug agsin, as I whisper, "I love you." over and over again.

The peace keeper orders them out, and the door shuts with a small _thump._

Someone else enters, the room, I look up and notice that it's Sonic's uncle, uncle Chuck. I'm suprised he's come to see me, although I do know him a bit, but he know's Cream even better. When she sells her goats cheese at the hob, she puts two of them aside for him, and he gives her massive loafs of bread to her in return.

He sits at the edge of my bed, and smiles at me. Before handing me a white paper bag. I tak it, nodding in thanks, before taking a peep inside. Chilly Dogs. Sonic was, and still probably is, awfully fond of them, and before the rebellion, he forced me to try some, they, suprisingly, weren't half bad, but now, they're very expensive to buy, or trade for, in my case.

Now that I think about it, Sonic probably got all that bread from his uncle, but I doubt he would have gave it to Sonic for free, related or not, from the little I know about Uncle Chuck, he believes you should work for the stuff you earn.

"Thanks." I mumble and he nods in reply. Uncle Chuck was a man of few words to say the least, he was most likely one of those people that believed actions speak louder than words.

"I had some of your bread this morning." I continue, "My friend Knuckles gave you a couple of fish for it."

He nods once again.

Then I can't think of anything else, so we sit in silence until a Peacemaker arrives at the door. He rises and coughs to clear his throat. "I'll keep an eye on little Cream, make sure she's eating."

I nod gratefully, and I'm smiling for the first time since the reaping, and the chaos. A lot of people like Cream, what with her adorable face, and innocent look, maybe there will be enough fondness to keep her alive.

My next guess suprises me even more. Sally walks straight up to me, urgency clear in her voice, "They let you wear one thing from your district in the arena. One thing to remind you of home. Will you wear this?" She holds out the beautiful broach that I had seen her wear earlier this day, but it feels like decadeds ago.

"Your pin?" I question, upon taking a closer look, I see that it is a bird in flight.

"Here, I'll put it on your dress." She says, and I don't argue, in an odd sense, I feel that I _have _to do what she suggests, maybe it has something to do with her being the mayors daughter? I shrug it off, as she pins the pin on my dress.

"Promise you'll wear it into the arena, Amy?" she asks.

"Promise." Comes my respond, then she kisses me on the cheek, as a gesture of kindness, and before I could react, she's already out of the room, and in her place stands Knuckles, arms out stretched.

I don't hesitate to go into them, there was nothing going on between us, he's like a brother too me, a hot headed, and too-stuborn-for-his-own-good, although secretly a big ol' softy, big brother, and I was grateful for him.

"Listen," he says. "Getting a knife should be pretty easy, but you've got to get your hands on a bow. That's your best chance."

"They don't always have bows," I reply, thinking back to my first year here when there were only horrible spiked maces that the tributes had to stab one another to death with.

Then make one," says Knuckles, before continuing. "Even a weak bow is better than no bow at all."

It's true, but I have tried copying my fathers bows, yet, I always end up failing miserabely no matter how hard I try.

"I don't even know if there'll be wood," I say. My second year here, they tossed everybody into a landscape of nothing but boulders and sand and scruffy bushes. Many contestants were bitten by venomous snakes or went insane from thirst.

"There's almost always some wood," Knuckles says. "Since that year half of them died of cold. Not much entertainment in that." It's almost as if he read my mind.

I consider this for a moment, before agreeing with him.

"Yes, there's usually some," I say.

"Ames, it's just hunting. You're the best hunter I know," Knuckles says.

"They're armed. They think," I remind him.

"You've had real practice," he says. "You know how to kill."

"Animals, Knuckles,animals, not people." I tell him.

He chuckles dryly, "Technically, we are animals."

"Hardy ha ha," I reply sarcastically, "Very funny."

The Peacekeepers are back too soon and Knuckles asks for more time, but they still continue to drag him away and I begin to panic. "Don't let them starve!" I cry out, clinging to his hand.

"I won't! You know I won't! Amy, remember I —" he says, and they yank us apart and slam the door.

I'll never know what it was he wanted me to remember.


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay guys, heres the dealio. I am uber sorry about not updating in a while but I haven't really been finding the time to work on this sory, also I have also been writing a Kingdom Hearts story and I decided that I haven't been fair on you guys reading this, so I decided it would be better if I put my Kingdom Hearts story on hiatus and continued on with this story!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic or The Hunger Games**

The Blood Of A Rose

Chapter 4

When I was younger, you know, the time when none of us were aware of the revolt, there was once this handsome hero that I always used to look up to, used to being the keywords. Okay, I admit, maybe I did have a _slight _obsession with him back then, he was the full package, in my eyes atleast. Tall, handsome, an absolute god, with a heart of gold. Althought, not the humblest of heros.

As time went on, after each small heartbreak that came with it, I soon began to learn that life was no fairytale. Not everyone gets their own 'happy ending', or 'happily ever after'. Maybe I was delusional to think that anything was going to happen between, and it was nice to dream about it while it lasted, but I had to grow up.

I didn't have a choice, after the revolt ended and we were all seperated from each other. I knew that I could count on my hero to set everthing right again, like it _should _be. But you don't always get what you want, and I learnt that lesson when I found out my hero, was no Superman.

I never thought that I would see Sonic the hedgehog cry.

It was quite a strange sight to look at. His head hung low as he dragged his feet across the train station floor. An occasionaly sniff would come from his direction but I seldom took notice. I didn't want to take notice, because seeing him cry, might make me cry, not that I was concerned about him, why would I be? It's just that if anyone caught sight of me crying on TV, I would be seen as a 'easy target' and there would be no point in sponsoring me if I was the first to die.

I couldn't let Cream down.

A multiple number of microphones were shoved in Sonic's direction as we were led onto the train, but he kept his head down and continued to ignore the reporters that wanted to catch sight of his tear stained face. I also ignored them, I wasn't really in a chatty mood, know what I mean?

We stand in the train doors for awhile, so that the cameras can soak up our images, I then begin to notice a dull throbbing in my legs, and I wonder when they're going to shut the train doors. As if someone out there was taking pity on me, the train doors slowly began to close.

I gasp in suprise when the train begins to speed off. I haven't experienced speed like this in a long while, it was almost as fast as Sonic speed. I wobble for a few moments, before I quickly adjust, and stop myself from falling over. I glance over at Sonic, and he looked back at me, while wiping away the remaining tear that lingered on his cheek.

I gave him a small nod, before walking through the door that led to the large compartment. I remember in school when they was teaching us about trains, that it takes roughly less that a day to arrive to the Capitol, but somehow I knew this journey was going to be a long one.

Tikal tellls me to wear anything that I want, just so long as I am ready for supper in a hour, there's nothing more that I want to do than get changed. The dress reminded me of home too much. I take off my mother's blue dress and take a hot shower, it's been a long time since I've taken a shower, I've almost forgotten what it feel like to have one. I dress into a dark green T-shirt, and a pair of light brown pants.

Its at this point I remember Sally's gold pin. I carefully un-clip it from the crumpled blue dress on the floor, and inspect it. It's as if someone fashioned a small golden bird and then attached a ring around it. The bird is connected to the ring only by its wing tips. I quickly recognise the bird. It's a flicky bird.

A memory flashes before my eyes as my eyes continue to trace over the small pin. Four years ago, I had encountered a flicky bird and made it my own, when I was in pursuit of Sonic, it fell from the sky, and we became fast friends. I decided to name her 'Birdie'. I wasn't very original back then.

During the revolt, the Capitol used these birds to power their weapons and machines, some were even attached with small radios so that the Capitol could listen in on the districts private conversations. Then, of course, the rebels fed the Capitol endless lies, and the joke was on it. So the centers were shut down and the birds were left to die in the wild, only they didn't die off, and instead, they mated with each other, so they're still living till this very day.

Flicky birds were well known for the ability of being able to sing, they liked to sing with people, not just for a few notes, but for a whole song, but that was only when they liked your voice and you had the patience to sing with them.

My father was very fond of flicky birds. When we use to go out hunting together, he would whistle a little join, and after a small pause, they would always whistle back. My father had the most beautiful voice, all the birds would fall silent so that they could listen to him. After he died, I could never bring myself to continue the practise. But the little bird reminded me of my father, and made me feel that there was still a small part of him with me, protecing me.

I carefully pinned the pin to the green fabric of my shirt, just as Tikal entered my room to collect me for supper.

**Again, sorry about the long wait! I hope you can forgive me! Pleeaaassssseeee reviewwwwwwwwwwww!**

**Love ya!**

**Mwah!**


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